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Health benefits and sources of vitamin K

What are the health benefits of vitamin K?

What are the health benefits of vitamin K?

Health benefits and sources of vitamin K. Vitamin K refers to a group of fat-soluble vitamins that play a role in blood clotting, bone metabolism, and regulating blood calcium levels. The body needs vitamin K to produce prothrombin, a protein and clotting factor that is important in blood clotting and bone metabolism.

Health benefits and sources of vitamin K

Vitamin K refers to a group of fat-soluble vitamins that play a role in blood clotting, bone metabolism, and regulating blood calcium levels.

The body needs vitamin K to produce prothrombin, a protein and clotting factor that is important in blood clotting and bone metabolism. People who use blood-thinning medications, such as warfarin, or Coumadin, should not start consuming additional vitamin K without first asking a doctor.

Deficiency is rare, but, in severe cases, it can increaseTrusted Source clotting time, leading to hemorrhage and excessive bleeding.

Vitamin K1, or phylloquinone, comes from plants. It is the main typeTrusted Source of dietary vitamin K. A lesser source is vitamin K2, or menaquinone, which occurs in some animal-based and fermented foods.

Uses

Phylloquinone, also known as vitamin K1, is found in plants. When people eat it, bacteria in the large intestine convert it to its storage form, vitamin K2. It is absorbed in the small intestine and stored in fatty tissue and the liver.

Without vitamin K, the body cannot produce prothrombin, a clotting factor that is necessary for blood clotting and bone metabolism.

Most Americans are not at riskTrusted Source of a vitamin-K deficiency. It is most likely to affect newborns and those with a malapsorption problem, due, for example, to short-bowel syndrome, cystic fibrosis, celiac disease, or ulcerative colitis.

Newborns normally receive a vitamin K injection to protect them from bleeding in the skull, which could be fatal.

The recommended adequate intake for vitamin K depends on age and gender. Women aged 19 years and over should consume 90 microgramsTrusted Source (mcg) a day, and men should have 120 mcg.

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